Anisul Islam Noor :
Implementation of coal based power plants faces obstacle due to complexity in coal import, Power Ministry sources said.
Though Power Development Board (PDB) signed deals with private entrepreneurs to keep a balance in electricity tariff, the delay to execute the projects caused price hike for several times.
The government pledged to set up eleven coal-fired power plants. Of them, the local private firm Orion Group was supposed to build three 1,088MW coal-based power plants, two 1450MW power plants at the public initiative while three more 7960MW plants as joint-venture. On June 27, 2012, the government signed an agreement with the Orion Group to this end. The government planned to install one of the plants at Mawa of Munshiganj with a capacity of 522MW while two others with the total capacity of 566MW in Khulna region. There is already a 250MW government-run coal-based power plant at Barapukuria in Dinajpur. Coal for this power plant is supplied from Barapukuria Coal Mining Company Limited. Adjacent to the Barapukuria Power Plant, another 250MW plant of the Power Development Board was supposed to be set up. Sites were also chosen for a 1200MW power plant of the state-owned Coal Power Generation Company Limited with a loan from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) at Matarbari in Cox’s Bazar. The government also initiated to set up a 1320MW coal-fired plants at Rampal with the National Thermal Power Corporation of India and another 1320MW plant in Chittagong under joint venture. These power plants were expected to start production between March 2015 and 2017. Under joint venture, Moheshkhali in Cox’s-Bazar was selected for another coal-fired power plant with the capacity of generating 5320MW of electricity. The date was not finalised to start production of this plant.
“Power plant depending on imported coal is possible but it requires proper planning,” Professor of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology Ijaz Hossain said.
He stressed the need for monitoring the implementation of power plant as mere plans will not yield any results. He said, delayed planning, non-availability of finance and implementation complexities have caused the setback.
“We have managed our funds. We are now filling the earth for the project sites. After finishing this, we will start construction,” Orion Group spokesman Chowdhury Khaled Masud said.
“Except for the PDB-initiated power plant, the rest will be run by imported coals. It may take more time to start coal-based power plants as it requires infrastructure to import coal,” Power Development Board Chairman Engineer Md Abdullah Ruhullah said.
“We will work to implement coal based power plants as soon as possible,” said Abul Kashem, Managing Director of the Coal Power Generation Company of Bangladesh Limited.
